mark zuckerberg – The Philadelphia Observer

Racial Justice Groups Demand Mark Zuckerberg’s Resignation After Facebook Papers Leak

Juan Ignacio — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 21:33:23 +0000

Source: Bloomberg / Getty

A group of racial justice organizations wants Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to resign immediately after the explosive release of leaked internal documents. Kairos, 18 Million Rising, Media Justice, Action Center on Race and the Economy, MPower Change and U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights released a statement outlining how Facebook has misled the public and officials on the platform’s steps to address hate speech and disinformation on its site.

Facebook has suggested over and over again that it takes down nearly 96% of hate speech, but, in reality, newly released documents suggest Facebook was removing only 5% or less of hate speech. Facebook’s persistent actions to undermine content moderation are the latest evidence that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook leadership will continue to sacrifice the safety of our communities to line their pockets.

Judicial Inquiry Begins in Eric Garner Case, 7 Years After His Death

No number of P.R. stunts thinly veiled as solidarity in support of Black lives can sweep Facebook’s neglect of its users and the violence it is perpetuating under the rug. For too long, Facebook has operated with unprecedented immunity from meaningful oversight and, as a result, has continued to prime the spigot of hate content from extremist groups on Black and other marginalized communities, both domestically and abroad. Rather than serving as a true public forum, Facebook has helped to suppress the voices of human rights advocates in nations such as India, Palestine, Myanmar while building inroads for threats of violence and political misinformation to fester.

Source: Racial Justice Groups Demand Mark Zuckerberg’s Resignation After Facebook Papers Leak

Fauci asks Americans to prepare to get vaccinated as states plan for distribution

Juan Ignacio — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 01:19:39 +0000

(CNN)As the US prepares for the first round of vaccinations to tackle Covid-19, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called on the public to “be part of the solution” and get vaccinated once it is available.

“Say, ‘I’m not going to be one of the people that’s going to be a steppingstone for the virus to go to somebody else. I’m going to be a dead end to the virus,’” Fauci told Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Monday.

The virus has been spreading quickly, and November set records 20 times for the number of coronavirus hospitalizations, according to the Covid Tracking Project, the most recent Monday with 96,039. All the while Johns Hopkins University data reports that the US has reached more than 13.5 million total cases and 268,045 deaths. And the impacts of Thanksgiving travel still won’t be felt for weeks, health experts say.

Guest Lecturer and Historian Dr. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs Launches the More Than a Fraction Foundation

When can I get a coronavirus vaccine?

Holiday gatherings — like Thanksgiving and upcoming Christmas and Hanukkah — are the “perfect setup” for people who have no symptoms to “innocently and inadvertently” spread infections to their loved ones.

With that in mind, officials are preparing for the first wave of vaccine distributions.

Vaccine candidates from Pfizer and Moderna are both awaiting emergency use authorizations (EUA). States have until Friday to request the number of doses for Pfizer’s vaccine, Executive Director of the Association of Immunization Managers Claire Hannan told CNN Monday.

Source: Fauci asks Americans to prepare to get vaccinated as states plan for distribution

It’s Getting Hot in Here: AOC Grills Mark Zuckerberg About Whether Facebook Will Allow Ads That Lie to Black Voters

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 12:46:50 +0000

October 24, 2019 Edit Edit with WPBakery Page Builder

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—aka the Notorious AOC, aka key member of the House’s progressive “Squad”—set Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg back on his heels Wednesday when she grilled him about the social media giant’s potential to manipulate marginalized communities in next year’s elections.

The exchange came during hearings for the House Financial Services Committee, according to Fox Business. Lawmakers brought Zuckerberg before them to discuss Facebook’s desire to start its own cryptocurrency, Libra. But the discussion soon expanded to other issues they had with Facebook, including its influence on the voting public by allowing politicians’ ads to appear on the site without proper vetting or fact-checking.

Ocasio-Cortez grilled Zuckerberg about how far afield from the truth a political ad could be before it would possibly raise red flags or be taken down from the site.

Students wear boxes on their heads during exam

“You announced recently that the official policy of Facebook now allows politicians to pay to spread disinformation in 2020 elections and in the future,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Under your policy … could I pay to target predominantly black zip codes and advertise them the incorrect election date?

Zuckerberg responded in the negative, but seemed to backtrack when pressed by the congresswoman about whether that then meant that Facebook would indeed be fact-checking ads.

“So there is some threshold where you will fact-check?” Ocasio-Cortez pressed. “Could I run ads targeting Republicans in primaries saying they voted for [the progressive-Democrat-backed] Green New Deal? … If you’re not fact-checking political advertisements, I’m just trying to understand the bounds here.”

“I don’t know the answer to that off the top of my head,” Zuckerberg responded.

“So, you don’t know if I’ll be able to do that,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Do you see the potential problem here with a complete lack of fact-checking on political advertisements?”

“I think lying is bad,” a seemingly exasperated Zuckerberg answered.

“So you won’t take down lies, or you will take down lies?” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I think that’s just a pretty simple yes or no?”